How to Clean Up Active Directory after an Unsuccessful Migration

SUMMARY

This article contains steps to clean up the Active Directory when a Small Business Server 2011 Standard migration installation fails. If the setup of SBS 2011 Standard fails and the installation must be performed again, it is advisable to perform a system state restore on the source server and then retry the migration install. Sometimes it is not possible to perform a system state restore. This article contains the steps to clean up active directory so that a second attempt at installation will be successful.

MORE INFORMATION

The following steps can be used to clean up the active directory and redo the migration installation of SBS 2011.

The steps involve directly editting values in Active Directory. We strongly suggest you make a complete backup of the source server before you attempt these steps.

Cleanup Active Directory Entries for the New Domain Controller

These steps will clean up the Active Directory entries that make the new SBS 2011 server a domain controller. If you use following these steps, the SBS 2011 must be completely reinstalled.

22. At the metadata cleanup prompt, type remove selected server, you will see a warning dialog box, make sure that the server name in the warning is the name of the new SBS 2011 server that failed the setup. If the name matches, click yes to remove the server.

23. Type q twice to close out of NTDSUTIL

24. Open Active Directory Users and Computers, click view advanced features25. Expand the Domain Controllers OU26. If the server object for the new SBS 2011 server is not present skip to Step 29, otherwise Right click on the Server object corresponding to the new SBS 2011 server and go to properties

27. Click on the Security tab, make sure that the Administrators group has Full Control and click OK

28. Right click on the server object corresponding to the new SBS 2011 server and choose delete. Choose the option for This domain controller is permanently offline and can no longer be demoted using the Active Directory Installation Wizard (DCPROMO). Choose Yes to the warning about the object being a container.

29. Open Active Directory Sites and Services

30. Expand Sites

31. Expand Default-First-Site-Name32. Expand Servers

33. Right click on the server object corresponding to the new SBS 2011 server and choose Delete

At this point, the new server is no longer listed in Active Directory as a Domain Controller. You must also use the following steps to clean up the entries for the failed Exchange Setup.

Clean Up Exchange Entries

1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers2. Remove the user named FederatedEmail.GUID (Note: The user is typically located under the Users container or under cn=MyBusiness,cn=users,cn=sbsusers)

3. Remove the user named DiscoverySearchMailbox{GUID} (Note: The user is typically located under the Users container or under cn=MyBusiness,cn=users,cn=sbsusers)

Warning If you use the ADSI Edit snap-in, the LDP utility, or any other LDAP version 3 client, and you incorrectly modify the attributes of Active Directory objects, you can cause serious problems. These problems may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, or both Windows and Exchange. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that occur if you incorrectly modify Active Directory object attributes can be solved. Modify these attributes at your own risk.

5. Expand Configuration

6. Expand CN=Configuration7. Expand CN=Services8. Expand CN=Microsoft Exchange9. Right click on the object for the Exchange Organization and go to properties (The object is typcially named the same as the Active Directory netbios domain name.)

10. Edit the attribute named ObjectVersion

Set the objectversion to one of the following values depending on what version of Exchange is installed on the source server:

For Exchange Server 2003, the objectVersion value should be 6936.For Exchange Server 2007, the objectVersion value should be 10628

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